Som framgått med all önskvärd tydlighet av denna artikelserie är orättvisorna inom "gothic country" många, omfattande och upprörande. Men frågan är om inte Christian Williams tar priset. Genomslaget för hans musik står inte alls i proportion till hans begåvning och utsökta produktion, tvärtom det står snarare i omvänd proportion. Detta förhållande upprör mig mer än vad som vanligtvis blir fallet. Christian Williams tar detta med ro. I en intervju hösten 2007 för den utmärkta sajten Sepiachord (vars motto är "Music Now for a Past that Never Was") utvecklar Christian Williams sin syn: I'm just trying to make ends meet so that I can continue to make and release more music. And while it's been frustrating at times, it helps to remind myself that I'm not trying to make a career out of music – I'm just trying to share my songs with folks who want to listen. I ett mejl utvecklar Christian Williams sin syn ytterligare: "I realize that there are some musicians out there who want to make a living making music, and find it difficult to do that on the minimal royalties from digital sales, but that isn’t me. I have a full-time day job that I love as editor-in-chief of a magazine called Utne Reader, and I work on art and music in my spare time. I’ve never been interested in making a living off my music or my art. In fact, I purposely detach my passion for creativity from money because I believe it compromises the pure expression I’m after. Once you depend on your art to make a living, you inevitably start shaping your art to fit the parameters of what your paying audience wants – not what you want. My philosophy is this: stay true to pure expression. If people like what you produce and want to pay for it, that’s fantastic. If not, I don’t let it bother me – the satisfaction of expressing myself creatively is gratifying enough." Jag har ofta haft anledning att fundera på amerikaners intresse för sitt eget musikarv. Det fullständigt dräller av talang, begåvning och verkshöjd i USA. Jag upphör dock aldrig att förvånas av ointresset för genuin kvalitet. Istället lyssnar medelamerikanen hellre på radiovänlig s.k. dumcountry eller rentav på något ännu värre typ "pop-country". Varför inte nöja sig med det bästa, exempelvis gothic country, istället? Denna fråga kommer inte kunna besvaras inom ramen för denna artikel. I mejlet beskriver Christian Williams hur han kom in på "gothic country": "I originally started writing what has become known as “gothic country” back in 2005. I found myself heavily influenced by dark old-time folk and blues music, and artists like Dock Boggs and Skip James became my musical touchstones. I soon discovered that there were other contemporary musicians mining the same dark spaces of Americana (The Handsome Family and Slim Cessna’s Auto Club were my favorites), and listening to their take on that kind of music further motivated me as a songwriter. I think it was in 2007 that my music started to become associated with the specific genre of “gothic country,” and I started to see the term used a lot more to describe what I’d been listening to for years up to that point."

Christian Williams är självlärd på både gitarr och banjo. Han började med gitarr. I nämnda mejl skriver han: "After playing just guitar on the first couple albums, I decided I wanted to expand my sound. I had never played the banjo before, but knew that if I stuck with it I’d be able to teach myself how to play the same way I taught myself how to play guitar." Det innebär att Christian Williams kan välja mellan gitarr eller banjo i ackompanjemanget. Men vad avgör om det är gitarren eller banjon som ska användas? "And honestly, the only basis I use to decide when to use one or the other is if I’m working on a recording that I want to sound balanced and realize that I’ve written more guitar songs than banjo songs or vice versa. While I made a conscious decision to create a banjo-centric album with 30 Minutes, the banjo (and now the piano) is just extra tools I like to use to expand my sound." skriver han i mejlet. Han spelar på en "trusty old Martin guitar" och en "zeppified Deering Goodtime banjo". Christian Williams har en speciell plockteknik (picking) och spelar gitarr och banjo på samma sätt. De flesta gitarister och banjospelare plockar med flera av högerhandens fingrar. Christian Williams plockar enbart med insidan av nageln på höger tumme. Tummen går lika snabbt som en kolibrivinge (han kallas också Ol' Crazy Thumb av vännerna). Lyssna exempelvis på Summer Breeze eller Bison Jump. I mejlet beskriver Christian Williams hur det kommer sig att han spelar just på en Martin gitarr: "The first guitar I used when I started playing live shows was a small mahogany-bodied Martin that was great for practicing in my house, but pretty mediocre when it came to projecting in a live venue. I knew I needed to find something with a fuller sound and a deeper low end. So, I went to a small guitar shop in Milwaukee that specializes in repairing old Martin guitars and saw one hanging there with a noticeable crack right down the center of the body. The luthier explained that the previous owner had mistreated it by leaving it sit out next to the heater in his apartment and the wood top had dried up and split down the middle. The luthier was able to repair it, but couldn’t do anything to get rid of the visible scar. I, on the other hand, was directly attracted to the imperfection, and asked to play it. The first few notes boomed out and it was heavenly; it was the exact sound I was looking for and I immediately traded in my brand new, perfect mahogany Martin for that beat up 1993 model that no one else wanted. I soon discovered that its darker tone was the perfect complement to my voice."

Texterna är fullständigt briljanta. I den nämnda intervjun för Sepiachord utvecklar Christian Williams motiven i texterna: "Like most folks, I've experienced the ups and downs of love and I don't know if I have any new insights on that subject. But when it comes to death, all we know for sure is that it's going to happen – what happens next is anyone's guess. I see a lot more opportunity for new ideas with that subject than any other. On a personal level, I find the concept of death fascinating and probably think about it too much. When I was younger, religion always had a quick, clean answer to what happens to us when we die. But when I outgrew the faith of my childhood, those answers no longer made any sense to me and I had to start asking questions all over again. Writing songs helps me organize those questions in my head and analyze whatever answers I come up with. Aside from that, if you're trying to figure out a good way to end a song, nothing beats death in some form or fashion." I mejlet utvecklar Christian Williams hur hans kreativa process ser ut för att hitta teman, stämningslägen och uttryck: "Sometimes I’m fortunate and the lyrics pour out on the page without any coaxing. Other times, I’ll have to write a lot of lines, rewrite, delete, and move them around until I’m satisfied. If I find myself having to think too much, though, I’ll put the song aside and work on something else. I find that the more mental effort I have to put into anything creative, the further I get from the original burst of subconscious inspiration that made it a good idea in the first place. It’s all about finding a balance between feeling and thinking. As for finding the right mood and expression, I consider the songs I end up finishing and sharing to be reflections of my soul from a particular moment in time. I find it fascinating to think about mortality and my place in the universe, so those themes come through my music quite a bit. I can and have written “happy” songs about conventional themes like love, but I’m most interested in the aspects of humanity that people shy away from or find uncomfortable. I believe it’s only through exploring those themes (or exorcising those demons) that we can experience the fullness of life and truly appreciate our existence and our collective place in the universe." Texterna handlar i korthet om gott och ont, död, otrohet, frestelser, om de val vi gör och de konsekvenser det får. Jag ska inte tynga denna artikel med exempel på hans texter. Det skulle nämligen bli en artikel i sig. Texterna är enkelt tillgängliga på www.christian-williams.com Man både ryser och fascineras när man lyssnar på texterna. Man ryser av innehållet och fascineras av den distinkta uttrycksförmågan. Men det är inte bara sedelärande berättelser och mörka historier. Några av hans låtar, exempelvis Lady Laudanum, A Winter Away, Troubadour och Lake Effect, är inte av denna typ utan är bara oändligt vackra. Christian Williams har den klart bästa sångrösten, en mörk baryton, inom hela genren. Han sjunger dessutom helt utan ackompanjemang i låten "Too Late" på fjärde skivan "To The Trees". Det är nog ingen annan artist/band inom genren som skulle våga sig på något sådant.

Som jag nämnde ovan gör Christian Williams lite av både det ena och det andra. Men om vi avgränsar oss till musiken och fokuserar på vad själv allra helst föredrar: att skriva och spela in musik på egen hand eller att uppträda inför publik? I mejlet utvecklar han hur han ser på de två olika sätten att uttrycka sig: "I’m definitely more interested in the creative process. The “center of attention” aspect of performing has never been that appealing to me; if I can just write music and deliver it straight to people who want to hear it, I’m a happy man. And I should be clear that I have no problem getting up in front of people and performing, it’s just that the messages I’m trying to share through my music don’t require a stage and a microphone. My most profound reactions to music occur when I’m listening alone in my car or through headphones, so I think I’ve written my music to be appreciated in the same way. Some settings lend themselves to that kind of experience (coffee houses and small house concerts), but I’ve never really felt like my music is a good fit for conventional live venues, and I’ve never really enjoyed trying to fit my music into those parameters. That all said, if anyone ever asks me to pull out my guitar or banjo and play a few tunes, I never turn them down."

Bästa skiva är Built With Bones.Bästa låtar är For My Mind, It Was Flying, Rattle Trap, Last Thing I Do, Red, Beneath The Branches Dancing, The Long Drop, In The Corner Of Your Eye, Laudanum Lady, The Sad Song Of Sequin Island, Henry May, Upstairs, The Barn By The Creek, Troubadour, The Trail, Flood, Lake Effect och Empire.